Navigation systems designed for vehicles use global positioning system (GPS) signals to find position and find a route to a destination. GPS-based systems are usually deployed in vehicles where main power supply is not restricted. Further, finding initial heading in these systems is not designed to be quick. As a vehicle may move slowly at the beginning of the journey, the delay in finding initial heading may not present a major problem.
However when navigation is needed for a pedestrian many things change. Firstly, walking is at a steady speed at the beginning and along the journey. Secondly, pedestrians use mobile devices that have restricted power supply. Thirdly, the pedestrian may need the most help when starting the journey. The pedestrian will be disappointed if told to initially head South, and a minute later told to head West. Most if not all related-art systems defer initial direction computation until the user moves in one direction so that data can be collected to determine the initial heading; however, by the time the initial heading is determined the user may already be headed in the wrong direction.
Whether in vehicles or mobile devices, GPS-based systems may take three to seven minutes to determine an initial heading, particularly if the GPS-based system has been moved to a new location since its last GPS-based position determination. Similarly, mobile devices determining position based on location information provided by beacon devices may take a minute or more to determine initial heading.
Systems and methods that reduce the amount of time needed to determine initial heading would provide a competitive advantage in the marketplace.